Red Dragon Con
Red Dragon Con (RDC) is a series of Hannibal-themed conventions organized by Sean Harry via Starfury, his organization doing thematic conventions in the London area. The very 1st RDC was held in 2015 (after the strong fan-campaign asking several organisations to get a convention), near the Heathrow airport, and brought fans the cannibal himself - Mads Mikkelsen. Since then, the conversation was repeated each year with different guests. Despite that, each year the organizer kept claiming it's definitely the last one which happened an ongoing joke in the fandom. General info For each RDC, many fans are bringing little gifts for their con giveaway and giving them for free to other fans. No one has to do it and there is no limit about how many one should bring. No one is supposed to give anything in return, only if they can and want. It's all done for sharing the fun and love of the Fannibal Family. There is no dress-code for the con events, however, it's advised to bring a flower crown. Many fans wear it even the whole way to the hotel and almost everyone is wearing it during the con. People are usually staying at the con hotel or one of the other hotels nearby. Public Transport buses going between the hotels and the Heathrow airport are free, the free zone ends 1 stop behind the con hotel. Many fans arrive on Thursday and have some meatups. For example, there's a Thursday dinner in the The White Hart - Fuller's Pub, which has awesome name, a white stag as their sign and also is close to the con hotel. Some fans are also staying longer after the con to observe the Central London a bit more. Two times already Happened that at the same time as is the con happening a theater play with a Hannibal actor/actress was played in London. Some Fannibals are always attending. There is free water and toilets in the con hotel for all attendees. Starbucks, McDonald’s and a tank station are the closest place to get some cheaper food - there are also bars in the con hotels. Official con activities On friday, the program stars by registration that opens during afternoon. Usually around 8 o'clock there is the Opening ceremony where attendees see all the guests for the 1st time. After that, Meet & Greed for Gold tickets holders begins. Regular ticket holders can join the 1st con party in the main hall. On Saturday, here are photo sessions happening since the early morning. Later, there are Q&A panels with some guests and more photos or autograph sessions with some others. People go to the autograph/photo room based on the number of their tickets - generally, Gold tickets go earlier than Regular ones. During the day, there are sometimes Fan meets events for some of the guests - anyone can buy a ticket for them, but there is not a lot of the tickets. It's a bit similar to the M&G, where a bunch of fans gets one guest for themselves and have a while to talk together. During the late afternoon/early evening there is the Cosplay Contest. Guests are usually there to be its jury and to choose the winners in several categories. After that, another party begins. On Sunday, there is more photo and autograph sessions, several more Q&A panels and after the last panel/finished signing there is the closing ceremony. There, the guests and organizer say their official good bye, although as each night, some guests may decide to join the party after. The absolute end of the con is 2 am the next morning when everyone who is still around takes a group Survivor photo and then leaves as the hotel people are sending people away. Forbidden behavior At the con, people are not allowed to sell stuff (there are few exceptions granted by the organizer). All videos when guests are in the room are forbidden and since 2019 you can't have your phone out during M&G or in the autographs/photo session room. Since 2017 it's explicitly forbidden to hug the guests during autographs. Real weapons can't be a part of a costume and real-like looking guns must be checked by the staff. Since 2019 people are not allowed to give their gifts directly to the guests and should leave them on gift tables instead. Red Dragon Con Guests: * Loretta Ramos (Surprise guest) * Mads Mikkelsen * Kacey Rohl (Surprise guest) * Katharine Isabelle * Ellen Muth (Bonus guest, cancelled) * Aaron Abrams * Scott Thompson It's the very 1st Hanniba-only con ever happning, siruated in the Renaissance London Heathrow Hotel, on 16-18 October, 2015. Behold the Red Dragon Con Guests: * Eddie Izzard (Extra guest) * Ellen Muth (cancelled) * Hettienne Park * Kacey Rohl * Lara Jean Chorostecki * Katharine Isabelle * Vladimir Jon Cubrt It's situated in the Radisson Edwardian Hotel, Heathrow, on 7-9 October, 2016. A lot of fans who missed the 1st con hoped to see Mads Mikkelsen (and even maybe also Hugh Dancy) angain, however, the organizer was not able to get him this year and got a bit annoyed by all the people asking for Mads which occasionally escalated and caused some negativity. Despite that, people very enjoyed the con and almost all (if not all) tickets were sold. Red Dragon Con 3 Guests: * Bryan Fuller * Hugh Dancy (Special guest) * Demore Barnes * Aaron Abrams * Scott Thompson * Ellen Muth It's situated in the Radisson Edwardian Hotel, Heathrow, on 24-26 February, 2017. Money-wise, it wasn't easy for some fans to do another con so soon after the previous one. However, as the organizer explained, this radical change of the date happened because that way he could get Hugh Dancy for the RDC3 and that was an awesome guest for many. Later, also Bryan Fuller was announced and despite organizer's expectations he became probably even a little bit more popular than Hugh. Red Dragon Con 4 Guests: * Caroline Dhavernas (Cancelled) * Katharine Isabelle * Kacey Rohl * Rutina Wesley * Tom Wisdom * Vladimir Jon Cubrt * Joe Anderson * Ricky Whittle (Bonus guest) It's situated in the Radisson Edwardian Hotel, Heathrow, on 23-25 February, 2018. This year the organizer played with the idea to bring in a bit of American Gods, too, as another show on which Bryan Fuller was currently working. That's why Ricky Whittle was invited. He was a lot of fun and Fannibal, indeed, enjoyed him. The whole idea about expanding the event to American Gods died the next year as Bryan Fuller stopt working on the show. Because of the guests, the Fannibal musical team decided to repeat the show - or rather do another run with changes and added scenes for some of the guest (esp. Tom Wisdim). However, this time only few of them arrived to watch the show (Vladimir and Ricky). Red Dragon Con 5 Guests: * Mads Mikkelsen * Hugh Dancy (cancelled) * Richard Armitage * Aaron Abrams * Scott Thompson * Jeremy Davies It's siruated in the Renaissance London Heathrow Hotel, on 1-3 February, 2019. Fans were very excited for the reunion of Murder Husbands, the con tickets sold out quickly. However, it turned out that Hugh Dancy was never fully confirmed. He personally told several fans that his announcement went out too early and that he isn't sure whether he can go. Because Starfury's people kept telling he surelly is confirmed and that otherwise he wouldn't be announced, a fan e-mailed his agenture and was told that Hugh, indeed, won't be there. That caused a lot of anger from the con organizer and a ban for the fan, who already had their con ticket. Starfury was still insisting that Hugh is confirmed, tthough any guest may unexpectedly cancel their appearance before the event.. And, indeed, Hugh's cancellation was announced a day after the resale period for con tickets ended. Hugh coming the next year suggests that there was no very serious mistake on the con organizer side, however, no one really knows what exactly happened and many signs suggest that Starfury knew about him not being able to attend much earlier than they said so (for eg. not opening the photo sales etc.). Either way, the angry and shady responses to their customers' worries caused that a lot of new negative feelings against the organizer and some fans refused to go to the con ever again. Red Dragon Con 6 Guests: * Mads Mikkelsen * Hugh Dancy * Caroline Dhavernas * Katharine Isabelle * Tao Okamoto It's situated in the Radisson Edwardian Hotel, Heathrow, on 27-29 March, 2020. There was a date change from the original term: 3-5 April, because of another con's guest. Unfortunately, some fans already paid for their fly tickets or hotel rooms and/or weren't able to go the other date. People who had tickets before the date change were promised a free photo with 1 guest or getting money for the ticket back if unable to go. Negativity was loosen a bit when both, Murder Husbands and Murder Wives actors were announced as guests some time later. Red Dragon Con 7 Guests: * ? Nothing's sure yet. However, the organizer mentioned his desire to do RDC7 in 2021. It should be siruated in the Renaissance London Heathrow Hotel. External links * RDC Facebook Group * RDC official web page Category:Conventions